Thank you Mellissa. I guess I need to set up a Reddit account. Several people have directed me there for Keto forums for one reason or another. I try not to let it get me down but I have been fluctuating really badly since I started this WOE and I have a feeling it has a lot to do with the hormones not being balanced. I came off of a prepackaged, doctor recommended food plan that really knocked me outta whack and helped me discover that I do indeed have an under-active thyroid, which I have known most of my life because I have always felt hormonally off balance and could never lose weight. It is also genetic in my family but doctors never listened to me and at most would run the basic blood test to appease me which always came back normal…which is common…and when they did, they would lecture me about losing weight and hand me a prescription for diet pills or give me info on some fad diet. Now I am trying to fix it with Keto and natural remedies. I feel better than I ever have in my life on the energy front and that was almost an instant feeling after switching to Keto. I hope I balance out soon because I am 35-40 lbs down since mid-May (depending on my fluctuation for the week) and have about 100+ to go. The frustrating part is I have now lost the same 3-5 lbs repeatedly over the past 5-6 weeks and all I can think is that could have been 20-30 lbs closer to my goal weight! I even considered going back on that nasty diet even though I felt terrible because I did lose consistently. I have confirmed my macros with some others who are more experienced and they are just as boggled as I am about the bad fluctuation.
Cauliflower is definitely my favorite low carb veggie Lora – it’s so versatile! But you can also enjoy loads of spinach, broccoli, swiss chard, zucchini, celery, eggplant, cucumbers, and even spaghetti squash! Kale, tomatoes, onions, garlic, mushrooms, even pumpkin in moderation. Potatoes are mostly a no no unless you are in maintenance mode and even then very sparingly!
Meat – Unprocessed meats are low carb and keto-friendly, and organic and grass-fed meat might be even healthier. But remember that keto is a high-fat diet, not high protein, so you don’t need huge amounts of meat. Excess protein (more than your body needs) is converted to glucose, making it harder to get into ketosis. A normal amount of meat is enough.
Normal dietary fat contains mostly long-chain triglycerides (LCT). Medium-chain triglycerides are more ketogenic than LCTs because they generate more ketones per unit of energy when metabolised. Their use allows for a diet with a lower proportion of fat and a greater proportion of protein and carbohydrate,[3] leading to more food choices and larger portion sizes.[4] The original MCT diet developed by Peter Huttenlocher in the 1970s derived 60% of its calories from MCT oil.[15] Consuming that quantity of MCT oil caused abdominal cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting in some children. A figure of 45% is regarded as a balance between achieving good ketosis and minimising gastrointestinal complaints. The classical and modified MCT ketogenic diets are equally effective and differences in tolerability are not statistically significant.[9] The MCT diet is less popular in the United States; MCT oil is more expensive than other dietary fats and is not covered by insurance companies.[3]
Meat – Unprocessed meats are low carb and keto-friendly, and organic and grass-fed meat might be even healthier. But remember that keto is a high-fat diet, not high protein, so you don’t need huge amounts of meat. Excess protein (more than your body needs) is converted to glucose, making it harder to get into ketosis. A normal amount of meat is enough.
My husband has been on ” ideal protein ” diet for last 5 weeks and lost weight, he will soon be off the diet( I don’t think their package food is very healthy and he is getting tired of it and started to cheat here and there with carbs). So far he lost 15 lb but he should lose another 10- 15 lb( starting weight 225, today 210). I am trying to find a way to help him sustain weight or lose and also see a need to change our eating style over all when he goes off this diet.He seems to not believe in whats in your blog( he thinks to good to be true), I decided to experiment on myself. If this works for me, it should work for him. Yesterday I started 3 day kick start, wow ALL YOUR RECIPE is DELICIOUS and amazing. I’m getting keto Sticks today, so I will report when keto kicks in.

In terms of weight loss, you may be interested in trying the ketogenic diet because you’ve heard that it can make a big impact right away. And that’s true. “Ketogenic diets will cause you to lose weight within the first week,” says Mattinson. She explains that your body will first use up all of its glycogen stores (the storage form of carbohydrate). With depleted glycogen, you’ll drop water weight. While it can be motivating to see the number on the scale go down (often dramatically), do keep in mind that most of this is water loss initially.

You’ll just have to search for some recipes that are low carb and dairy free! Week 5 of my keto menu plans is mostly dairy free and easily made completely dairy free. I have also started a pinterest board where I’m collecting low carb recipes that are also dairy free and I’ll be working on adding more recipes to that. You might also try searching for Paleo recipes, many of them are dairy free and can easily be made low carb as well! Hope that helps!
One area where food tracking can be especially helpful, though, is ensuring that you're hitting the right ratios of macronutrients—protein, carbs, and fat. "The most researched version of the ketogenic diet derives 70 percent of calories from healthy fats, 20 percent from protein, and only 10 percent from carbs," explains Charles Passler, D.C., nutritionist, and founder of Pure Change. "In the ideal world, each keto meal and snack should have that same (70/20/10) ratio of macronutrients, but studies have shown that you'll still achieve great results even if each meal varies slightly from that ratio, just as long as you don't exceed 50 grams per day of carbs, or eat those carbs in one sitting," says Passler. In order to achieve these ratios without a preset meal plan from a dietitian or doctor, some food tracking is probably going to be necessary. But once you get the hang of things, you may not need it anymore.
Insulin is a hormone that lets your body use or store sugar as fuel. Ketogenic diets make you burn through this fuel quickly, so you don’t need to store it. This means your body needs -- and makes -- less insulin. Those lower levels may help protect you against some kinds of cancer or even slow the growth of cancer cells. More research is needed on this, though.
It’s probably keto flu, make sure you’re drinking lots of water – get plenty of sodium, magnesium supplements and lite salt (potassium) are also helpful. It should only last another day or two until your body adjusts, but if you feel really bad then don’t push it or check with your doctor because something else could be wrong with you. Hope you feel better soon!

"It was extremely difficult," he recalls. "You spend your entire life hearing that fat makes you fat and causes heart attacks and strokes. Now, all of a sudden, you're eating 200 grams of fat per day. There is a huge psychological component to conquer before you can become successful with the keto diet. In the beginning, it's like trying to convince people 1,000 years ago that the world is in fact round, not flat."

UPDATE: Hi! It’s been 4 weeks already. I am still cooking keto and enjoying many delicious dessert too! I have finally convinced my husband to totally convert to keto food. It’s only been one week since he stopped using diet package food. He is very happy with the food he get to eat and still losing weight but much slower pace this week. That’s because I have been giving him larger portions as this is the first week for him. Since he was already on low carb diet prior to this, keto flue may be not as bad but still want to keep him happy and better transition experience. Meanwhile, I get to cook keto for the whole family and really enjoying the new way of eating and cooking. I have lost total of 6 lb but that was enough to prove to my husband eating bacon and butter is ok as long as we are on keto diet. I was only doing this to convert my husband since he doesn’t have any interest in nutrition or theory behind it, so what he sees is what he believes. 6 lb may not sounds a lot for 4 weeks but I was already below average weight , so it was a lot of loss for me. I think it’s a science 5-30-65 combination works on everyone. Now I just eat more portions of everything ,so we can still eat same food. Today, he had a once a week appointment with his ideal protein dietitian. Seems like they are not convinced that he can still continue to lose weight unless he eat their packaged food. I plan to continue sending him there for once a week appointment , so he sill have something to be accountable for. Next few weeks, I’m hoping he won’t be as hungry so I can start portion control his food without his knowledge, LOL.
In Asia, the normal diet includes rice and noodles as the main energy source, making their elimination difficult. Therefore, the MCT-oil form of the diet, which allows more carbohydrate, has proved useful. In India, religious beliefs commonly affect the diet: some patients are vegetarians, will not eat root vegetables or avoid beef. The Indian ketogenic diet is started without a fast due to cultural opposition towards fasting in children. The low-fat, high-carbohydrate nature of the normal Indian and Asian diet means that their ketogenic diets typically have a lower ketogenic ratio (1:1) than in America and Europe. However, they appear to be just as effective.[53]

Diarrhea can also be due to a lack of fiber in the diet, says Kizer, which can happen when someone cuts way back on carbs (like whole-grain bread and pasta) and doesn’t supplement with other fiber-rich foods, like vegetables. It can also be caused by an intolerance to dairy or artificial sweeteners—things you might be eating more of since switching to a high-fat, low-carb lifestyle.

Thank you! Yea, no bread/pasta for me, by all accounts I was eating a (what I thought and what everyone would tell me, even a dietician I went to!) ‘healthy’ diet of whole grains, rice, fruit, vegetables, low fat, etc. and couldn’t understand why I was steadily gaining weight. That’s what led me here, as I was getting so frustrated and the more I read up on low carb/ketosis and how the body processes even conventionally healthy foods, it made sense to me, but I don’t think I can give up oatmeal and fruit forever! So I will definitely just make sure I only eat those in small amounts, but that is much farther down the road anyway.. I’m on to Week 1 and I’ll post an update at the end of the week. Thanks again!

Your glycogen stores can still be refilled while on a ketogenic diet. A keto diet is an excellent way to build muscle, but protein intake is crucial here. It’s suggested that if you are looking to gain mass, you should be taking in about 1.0 – 1.2g protein per lean pound of body mass. Putting muscle on may be slower on a ketogenic diet, but that’s because your total body fat is not increasing as much.5Note that in the beginning of a ketogenic diet, both endurance athletes and obese individuals see a physical performance for the first week of transition.
My name is Kevin. My life changed when I realized that healthy living is truly a lifelong journey, mainly won by having a well-balanced diet and enjoying adequate exercise. By experimenting in the kitchen and openly sharing my meals, I learned that healthy eating is hardly boring and that by making a few adjustments, I could design a diet that could help me achieve my personal fitness goals. Our bodies are built in the kitchen and sculpted in the gym.

The keto diet changes the way your body converts food into energy. Eating a lot of fat and very few carbs puts you in ketosis, a metabolic state where your body burns fat instead of carbs for fuel. When your body is unable to get glucose from carbs, your liver converts fatty acids from your diet into ketones, an alternative source of energy. Burning ketones in place of glucose reduces inflammation and spurs weight loss.[1]

No matter what your diet has been before now, keto will be a big change. If you're coming from a standard American diet (SAD), your carbs will go way down, your protein may either go up or down, and your fat will go way up. If you're coming from a bodybuilding-style diet, your fat intake will jump to alarming levels, and your protein will likely drop significantly.
But generally speaking, if you plan to follow a ketogenic diet, you should aim to consume less than 10 percent of your total calories from carbohydrates per day. The remaining calories should come from 20 to 30 percent protein and 60 to 80 percent fat. That means if you follow a daily 2,000-calorie diet, no more than 200 of your calories (or 50 grams) should come from carbs, while 400 to 600 calories should come from protein and 1,200 to 1,600 should come from fat. (There’s a reason this plan is also called a high-fat, low-carb diet!)
In one week my husband lost 1.5 kg because of Keto diet and recipes. Thank you for the insights and tips. I would like to have a complete recipe for meals everyday and hoping by subscribing I will receive try my mail. I will keep u posted. It takes 2 to tango. The one who wants to diet must be cooperative with the plan and execution while the other person who is preparing the food must be patient to the dieting person. Its not easy to change meals so patience is required
Well 18 is pretty close to 20, and I’m so mad at myself for letting it happen! I kept thinking I could lose it all fast by getting back on the wagon, but now it will probably take me months. So irritating! Congrats on three pounds and getting a head start on us! Keep us posted in the weekly Saturday thread on how you’re doing OK? And yes, DRINK MORE WATER! ha ha!
The ketogenic diet is calculated by a dietitian for each child. Age, weight, activity levels, culture and food preferences all affect the meal plan. First, the energy requirements are set at 80–90% of the recommended daily amounts (RDA) for the child's age (the high-fat diet requires less energy to process than a typical high-carbohydrate diet). Highly active children or those with muscle spasticity require more calories than this; immobile children require less. The ketogenic ratio of the diet compares the weight of fat to the combined weight of carbohydrate and protein. This is typically 4:1, but children who are younger than 18 months, older than 12 years, or who are obese may be started on a 3:1 ratio. Fat is energy-rich, with 9 kcal/g (38 kJ/g) compared to 4 kcal/g (17 kJ/g) for carbohydrate or protein, so portions on the ketogenic diet are smaller than normal. The quantity of fat in the diet can be calculated from the overall energy requirements and the chosen ketogenic ratio. Next, the protein levels are set to allow for growth and body maintenance, and are around 1 g protein for each kg of body weight. Lastly, the amount of carbohydrate is set according to what allowance is left while maintaining the chosen ratio. Any carbohydrate in medications or supplements must be subtracted from this allowance. The total daily amount of fat, protein and carbohydrate is then evenly divided across the meals.[36]
The popular low-carb diets (such as Atkins or Paleo) modify a true keto diet. But they come with the same risks if you overdo it on fats and proteins and lay off the carbs. So why do people follow the diets? "They're everywhere, and people hear anecdotally that they work," McManus says. Theories about short-term low-carb diet success include lower appetite because fat burns slower than carbs. "But again, we don't know about the long term," she says. "And eating a restrictive diet, no matter what the plan, is difficult to sustain. Once you resume a normal diet, the weight will likely return."